Thomas' Sleepy Days
by Scrubb1910
Summary: Poor Thomas can't simply sleep and tries everything, but his tiredness interferes with being Really Useful.


**THOMAS' SLEEPY DAYS**

All the engines on the North Western Railway work hard to be Really Useful in the day and also at night.

Thomas the Tank Engine had just come back from a hard day's work on his branch line. He was looking forward to a good night's sleep. But it was in the middle of the night, he was tossing and turning. Then, he woke up grumpily.

 _Botheration_ , thought Thomas, _I can't sleep_. Then, an idea flew into his funnel.

 _Maybe a drink of water would do the trick_ , he thought. He quietly puffed out of the sheds to the water tower. There he had a drink and felt much better. Thomas puffed back to the sheds and closed his eyes, but he still couldn't sleep. After a couple of hours, he did...but then, he was awoken by a voice:

"Come on, Thomas! There's work to be done! The Fat Controller depends on us."

It was his driver and fireman.

"Okay, then," he sighed, wearily.

Thomas was puffing along his branch line with Annie and Clarabel. He had to stop at a signal. As he waited, he suddenly fell asleep. Just then, he heard a tractor chugging across a field.

"Morning, Thomas!"

It woke Thomas up with a start.

"Oh! Morning, Terence," he sleepily answered. "Did I fall asleep, Annie and Clarabel?" Thomas asked his two coaches.

"Yes, you did," answered Annie.

"Sir Topham Hatt won't take it kindly if you're late," warned Clarabel.

"I'm sorry," Thomas sighed, "The trouble is I'm very tired and I can't sleep no matter how hard or what I try."

"Have you thought about counting sheep?" Terence asked, "That's what I do."

Thomas thought, then he said, "You know, Terence...I could give that a try."

"Thomas! What about your passengers and the signal?" Annie and Clarabel answered.

Thomas looked at the signal. It was up. "Bust my buffers! I almost forgot... Sorry, Terence! I must go now! Goodbye!" And Thomas puffed away as fast as he could.

Gordon was waiting at the station and he was getting very bored and very impatient.

"Where has that Silly Little Thomas got to?" he grumbled. "He goes on to us Big Engines about how important his branch line is on the railway and this is what he means, I suppose, the hypocrite."

Just then, Thomas pulled into the station where Gordon was waiting.

"Sorry I'm late, Gordon," Thomas panted.

"And what's the excuse this time, Little Thomas?" Gordon asked, "Tortoises on the line? Oh, wait – I'm seeing on right now."

This made Thomas cross – a Big Engine like Gordon talking down to him like that.

"Well, I'm sorry I kept you waiting!" he retorted, "At least your passengers are here, now."

Before Gordon could reply, the guard blew his whistle and Gordon set off hoping to make up for lost time.

Later that night, when Thomas was in the shed, he counted sheep just as Terence did. First ten, then twenty, then thirty, then forty, the fifty, then sixty – he counted 500 sheep and he was still awake!

The next day, Thomas was pulling a good train. He was just puffing down the line when he didn't notice the signal was down. His driver applied the brakes.

"Careful, Thomas!" he shouted, "didn't you see the signal? It's down and you almost outran it."

Thomas looked up – his driver was right. "Whoops, sorry!" Thomas wheeshed. He waited until the signal was down and then he set off again safely. Thomas arrived at the yard when he saw Henry.

"Hello, Thomas!" Henry peeped.

"Hello, Henry," Thomas yawned.

Henry could see Thomas' tired face. "You do look quite sleepy."

"Yes, I do," Thomas replied, glumly. "I've tried and tried very hard but nothing has worked."

"Driver says if you put a bag of lavender under your pillow at night, it helps you to sleep better," huffed Henry.

"Don't be silly, Henry! Engines don't need pillows," snorted Thomas.

"No," explained Henry, "you could always put it on your buffer beam."

Thomas understood, then he said, "You're right, Henry. I could always do that! Thanks, again! See you later!" And Thomas puffed away excitedly.

Later that night, Thomas' driver and fireman put a bag of lavender on Thomas' buffer beam. That soothed the little tank engine very well and he drifted off to sleep. But then...

"AAAAH-CHOOOOOO!"

The lavender made Thomas sneeze so loudly that he woke up again and it also woke up Toby and Percy. Poor Thomas wouldn't be able to sleep well that night.

The next day, Thomas was shunting James' goods train in the yard. It was hard and tiresome. The trucks were trying to take advantage of Thomas' state, but he gave them a hard bump.

"Oh, do SHUT UP!" Thomas snapped crankily and that made the trucks behave.

After James' train was finished, he stopped to take on water. As he stood by the water tower, he suddenly fell asleep, but he was woken up by a whistle. It was James.

"Hurry up, Thomas! We haven't got the day off, you know!" he tooted.

"Sorry, James," Thomas yawned as he quickly moved away from the water tower so that James could take on water.

"Are you okay, Thomas?" James asked. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Well...yes and no," Thomas replied, "I've tried everything but nothing worked. I still can't sleep at night."

"Well," James replied, thoughtfully, "my driver says a hot bath at the end of a very busy, very stressful day helps people relax before they go to bed."

This gave Thomas an idea. "Yes...of course! It just might work."

"What might work?" James asked.

"Thanks, James! Sorry I kept you waiting; see you later!" And Thomas puffed away, leaving James very confused.

"Was it something I said?" he muttered.

Later that evening, Thomas had a hot wash at the washdown column. He felt very relaxed, very soothed and very clean. He returned to the sheds happily that night, and for the first time in a few days, he was able to sleep. That night, Thomas had a very strange dream. He was floating in a giant bubble, when suddenly, it popped and he was falling.

"HELP!" Thomas woke up in fright and he shouted so loud that he woke up Toby and Percy again.

"Thomas! You do know that I have to take the mail tomorrow!" Percy said angrily.

"Second time in a row you woke us up like that," put in Toby.

"Oh, dear...sorry, Toby. Sorry, Percy," said Thomas.

The next day, Thomas was busy shunting at the harbour. He was too tired to concentrate. He was shunting a long line of trucks when he didn't see Duck and Rosie whistling to him, until it was too late. The points were diverted to Emily pulling a coal train. Thomas' driver applied the brakes, but it was too late. The trucks surged forward and rammed into Emily's train. The trucks were smashed and coal was spilt everywhere. Thomas realised what he had done.

"Oh, no!" he groaned, "Whatever will Sir Topham Hatt say?"

"Probably a lot," sniffed Emily who was in a terrible mess, "Why don't you watch we're you going?!"

"Sorry, Emily," Thomas replied.

The Fat Controller arrived. He was very cross.

"Thomas! I have received complaints about you. First, you are running late with your passengers, then you almost pass a red signal and now you have caused confusion and delay!" He boomed.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Thomas answered sadly, "I haven't sleep in days. I have been feeling tired."

"Is that all?" asked the Fat Controller. "Engines on My Railway should be Really Useful, not Really Tired. Once you are put back on the rails, you must take the rest of today to relax and recover."

"But, Sir," Thomas protested, "the accident is all my fault. I really should stay and help clean up-"

"You've already done enough, Thomas," said the Fat Controller, "we can't afford any more mishaps already."

And he left.

Duck, Rosie and Salty helped clear the wrecked trucks while Donald took the remaining train away and Douglas hauled Emily to the Steamworks to be cleaned. Once Thomas was back on the rails, Edward helped him back to the shed. Thomas told him everything. The kind old engine understood.

"Dear me," said Edward, "you really have had a trying time."

"I'll say," sighed Thomas.

"I believe I know what you need," said Edward.

"What?" Thomas asked.

"A story," suggested Edward. "One night, I was taking some passengers home. A mother was talking to her children that she'd read them a story when they got home."

When they reached the sheds, Thomas then had an idea. "Edward, could you please tell me a story? It just might help me sleep."

"Of course, Thomas," Edward smiled, "I've got some time to spare." And then he told Thomas a story. He was halfway through telling when he noticed Thomas already was asleep, and this time, he didn't wake up. He smiled, gently chuckled to himself and puffed away quietly.

Later that evening, Toby and Percy were on their way back to the sheds very tired.

"Fancy Thomas getting into trouble like that!" Percy grumbled. "We've had to do his work as well as our own!"

"I know, Percy," replied Toby, "but it wasn't his fault he was far too tired to work. Hopefully, there'll be no more incidents when we're at the sheds."

"I certainly hope not," Percy replied grumpily, "he'd better not wake us up in the middle of the night again!"

As they approached the sheds, they saw Thomas still asleep.

"Percy," Toby whispered, "we don't want to wake Thomas up."

"We don't," Percy agreed – he was starting to feel guilty talking down to Thomas. "Maybe I was a little harsh on him. I should apologise to him..."

"He already knows, Percy," Toby replied.

And all three engines were asleep.

The next day, Thomas felt much better. He was busy in the Yard when he saw Edward.

"Peep-peep! Hello, Edward!" he peeped happily.

"Hello, Thomas," Edward wheeshed. "You do look cheerful."

"I'll say," Thomas smiled. "That story you told me was great, Thank you very much."

"A pleasure," smiled Edward.

"Edward, if you're not too busy, can you please tell me that story again?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I'm sure it can be arranged," replied Edward, "but why?"

"Only, I just wanted to know how it ended," answered Thomas.

 **THE END**


End file.
